Antique Botanical Prints of Geranium by Robert Sweet

Details

Description

Pair of Hand-Coloured Botanical Engraving,
Robert Sweet’s Geraniaceae: Pelargonium psilophyllum and Pelargonium fastuosum

Edwin Dalton Smith, del.; Stephen Watts, sculp.; … Read more Pair of Hand-Coloured Botanical Engraving,
Robert Sweet’s Geraniaceae: Pelargonium psilophyllum and Pelargonium fastuosum

Edwin Dalton Smith, del.; Stephen Watts, sculp.; Robert Sweet, Geraniaceae: The Natural Order of Gerania; London: James Ridgway, 169 Piccadilly

Pelargonium psilophyllum, plate 356 (published 1 May 1827);
Pelargonium fastuosum, plate 93 (published 1 June 1830)

A fine pair of original hand-coloured copper engravings of cultivated pelargoniums (then classified within the geranium family) from Robert Sweet’s Geraniaceae, drawn by Edwin Dalton Smith and engraved by Stephen Watts for the publisher James Ridgway of Piccadilly. Each plate depicts a single flowering variety with the precise botanical observation for which the series is admired, the blooms set against the plant’s characteristic lobed and toothed foliage with an outline leaf left uncoloured to show structure.

Plate 356, Pelargonium psilophyllum (the Smooth-leaved Stork’s-bill), published 1 May 1827, shows a soft truss of blush-pink and white blooms, the upper petals feathered and blotched with deep crimson, rising above smooth green leaves. Plate 93, Pelargonium fastuosum, published 1 June 1830, presents a fuller head of richer rose-pink flowers boldly marked with dark maroon on every petal. Each bears the artist’s and engraver’s credits and the Ridgway imprint along the lower margin, with the plate number to the upper right. Presented in matching marbled French mats with gilt fillets and warm gold-toned frames.

Dimensions
Each print (framed):
15¼ inches (38.7 cm) high,
12¼ inches (31.1 cm) wide,
1 inch (2.5 cm) deep.

Provenance
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge.

Condition
Good. Museum-quality mounting board (buffered with calcium carbonate) and Denglas UV-protective, low-reflection glazing fitted.

Historical Context
Robert Sweet (1783–1835) was an English botanist and horticulturist who, after a career as a nurseryman in Chelsea, turned to botanical publishing and became a fellow of the Linnean Society. His Geraniaceae: The Natural Order of Gerania appeared in London between 1820 and 1830, ultimately running to five volumes in a first series followed by a second series, and remains the most comprehensive illustrated record of the pelargonium hybrids — the “mule-varieties” — then being raised in enormous numbers in British gardens and glasshouses.

The plates were drawn by Edwin Dalton Smith (1800–1883), son of the engraver Anker Smith and one of the most accomplished botanical artists of his generation, associated with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and a prolific contributor to Sweet’s publications; the engraving was executed by Stephen Watts. Sweet’s sequential dating of each plate — here 1 May 1827 and 1 June 1830 — records the work’s issue in monthly parts, and provides a precise documentary anchor for the introduction and naming of each cultivated variety it records.

(Ref: NY11180-irr) See less